Monday, January 25, 2010

Interesting Developments in Commercial Space

White House Reportedly Will Fund Commercial Spaceflight.

The Wall
Street Journal (1/25, Pasztor, subscription required) website reports
that the White House has chosen to fund private companies to take astronauts
into space with a program likely to cost $3.5 billion over five years.
According to the article, Congress is expected to challenge this because of
safety concerns. Even though the article predicts conflicts because it will
shift money from existing programs to commercial companies, it also contends
there will not be any major program
cancellations.

Meanwhile, in continuing coverage, Space
News (1/23, Klamper, subscription required) reported NASA, according to
unnamed sources "will not be getting the $1 billion budget boost civil space
advocates had hoped to see," but the fate of the Ares I is still unknown.
However, the Orion capsule would not be cancelled, according to the sources.
"While Obama's funding proposal deviates from the Augustine panel's push for a
spending increase, sources said NASA's 2011 budget request is expected to align
with the panel's so-called Flexible Path plan." According to the article, "In
hindsight, NASA officials say the agency set Ares 1 and Orion on an
unsustainable spending
trajectory."

Space Frontier Foundation Chairman Sees Killing Ares As "Clear" Choice.
In an op-ed for the Orlando
Sentinel (1/23), Bob Werb, chairman of the board of the Space Frontier
Foundation, called for the cancellation of the "boondoggle" Ares I rocket
program. It is "just pork dressed up as cost-effective human space
transportation; it's not just wasteful, but destructive to future space
exploration beyond Earth orbit." Werb believes there is an "overwhelming" case
against the rocket, which he saw as a "bailout" for shuttle companies. "The
commercial alternatives are based on well-tested, mature systems currently used
to launch U.S. military, scientific and commercial satellites. Adapting these
rockets to carry people is cheaper, faster and better." Werb saw this as a
simple and "clear"
decision.

Food fight's on!

I'm a little unclear on how you can call spaceflight whose only customer is the government "commercial" though...

In related news,

Bolden To Reveal NASA Budget In Press Conference Next Week.

Space
News (1/26, Klamper, subscription required) reports, "NASA
Administrator Charles Bolden will unveil the U.S. space agency's spending
priorities for 2011 during a Feb. 1 press conference at NASA headquarters here,
according to administration officials." The article notes Bolden is also
"expected to discuss long-awaited details of the president's funding proposal in
the morning, followed by a press conference hosted by the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to rollout Obama's research and development
priorities - including those that affect NASA goals and funding- for the coming
budget year, these sources said." The budget is "expected to realign NASA's
human spaceflight activities and investments to foster development of commercial
systems." Bolden "tentatively" scheduled to conduct another press conference at
the National Press Club the following
day.

According to Spaceflight
Now (1/25, Clark), the budget "is expected to include new direction for
NASA." A White House spokesperson told Spaceflight Now, "NASA is vital not only
to spaceflight, but also for critical scientific and technological advancements.
The expertise at NASA is essential to developing innovative new opportunities,
industries and jobs. The President's budget will take steps in that direction."
However, the "fate of the agency's vexed exploration program is still unclear."
The upcoming budget "may provide no direct guidance on the Constellation
program."

Former NASA Official Cautions Over Commercial Human Spaceflight.
In an op-ed for Space
News (1/25, subscription required), Scott Horowitz, former associate
administrator for the exploration systems directorate, wrote about the role he
saw for commercial space companies in manned exploration. "To date, commercial
participants have made limited progress and experienced many challenges.
Contracts have been pulled, failures have occurred and schedules have slipped up
to two years. This has been a stark reminder that rocket development programs
are challenging." Horowitz believes that only after a commercial company
delivers cargo to the International Space Station "will be time to carefully
consider commercial human spaceflight." Horowitz, listing commercial ventures
that have failed, felt that this is "not a time to discard these proven systems"
of Orion and Ares "in favor of immature, high-risk commercial
options."

1 comment:

Just yesterday Reuters noted that Russia, the first nation to launch a satellite into orbit and a man into space, has lost its standing as a scientific powerhouse for lack of research and development. Nations like China and South Korea are racing to close the aeronautical gap, and India has green-lit its first manned mission to space in 2016, a year when it appears the U.S. Space Agency will be measuring glacial ice and ocean currents.--New Obama Budget Reported to Axe Constellation, Future Moon Missions